How the status of species is assessed

Most native species are considered to be ‘Not Threatened’ because their populations are sufficiently large and stable that there is little concern about their future. However, a significant number of species are undergoing or have experienced significant declines.

Species are assessed by panels of experts drawing from the New Zealand scientific community. The assessments use two very basic measures:

population size (number of breeding adults or area of habitat occupied)

population trend (rate of decline or increase).

For species with stable populations, whether or not they have declined historically is also taken into account.

Threatened species

These are species at greatest risk of extinction. They are either extremely rare, rare following severe historical decline, declining at an extremely high rate, or both uncommon and declining.

This broad ‘umbrella’ category is subdivided into three conservation status categories depending on the severity of risk they face:

Nationally Critical – most severely threatened, facing an immediate high risk of extinction

Nationally Endangered – facing high risk of extinction in the short term

Nationally Vulnerable – facing a risk of extinction in the medium term

Nationally Critical species are at immediate risk of extinction. The others are at serious risk of extinction but are somewhat buffered by larger populations or lower rates of decline.

At Risk species

Relationship of NZTCS categories

Species in this category are not considered Threatened but could quickly become so if declines continue or if a new threat arises. At Risk species are either declining but not uncommon, or uncommon but not declining. The categories in this umbrella category are:

Declining – population declining but still common

Relict – small population stabilised after declining

Naturally Uncommon – population is naturally small and, therefore, susceptible to harmful influences

Recovering – population is small but increasing after previously declining

Other categories

Migrant – native species that visit regularly but do not breed here

Vagrant – native species that visit only irregularly and/or in very small numbers and do not breed here

Coloniser – species that are uncommon because they are recent arrivals but have arrived and established without human assistance

Introduced and Naturalised – species that arrived by human agency and are reproducing in the wild in New Zealand

Data Deficient – species that are too poorly known for an assessment to be possible

Difference between threatened and protected species

In many countries, when species are listed as threatened, they automatically also receive legislative protection from hunting, habitat destruction and other threats. In New Zealand this is not true – there is no direct link between conservation status as assessed using the NZTCS (or IUCN red-list) and legal protection.

Legal protection for native plants and animals exists via the:

Conservation Act 1987 (plants and animals on public conservation land only)

Marine Mammals Protection Act 1978 (marine mammals only)

Wildlife Act 1953 (animals only; originally terrestrial vertebrate animals only, but a few invertebrate and marine fish species are declared to be “animals” for the purposes of the act)

Terrestrial vertebrate animals are completely protected under the Wildlife Act unless they are specifically excluded or the degree of protection limited in one of the schedules to the Act.

Marine Mammals are completely protected under the Marine Mammals Act.

Plants, invertebrates and fish are generally not protected except where they occur in national parks or reserves. Exceptions are the few fish and invertebrates deemed to be animals under the Wildlife Act.

The Native Plants Protection Act 1934 allows for the national or regional protection of a native plant species by a Warrant issued by the Governor-General, but does not infer any general protection of native plants outside national parks and reserves.

The schedules to the Wildlife Act 1953 are reviewed from time to time and may be changed by order in council.

NZTCS series

The New Zealand Threat Classification System series are lists providing the conservation status of a plant or animal group. There are 23 groups and each group is assessed once every 3 years.